The Duran Podcast - Russia-US; Black Sea ceasefire and sanctions relief (Live)

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Russia-US; Black Sea ceasefire and sanctions relief (Live)

Okay, we are live with Alexander McCurice in London. Live again, Alexander. How you doing? I'm doing very well. My voice is slightly strained because there's been so much to discuss and talk about. But in all other respects, I'm absolutely fine. And my voice will certainly hold up for this live stream, just the same. And the live stream I'm going to be doing later this evening for locals.

That's right. What time is that taking place? Yes. On locals. The Durand. Dot locals.com. What time does that take a place? So it's 1,400 hours EDT and 1,800 hours,

London time. EDT. EDT. In the US. Yeah. In the US. Okay. Okay.

What time London? I believe it's 1,800 hours. I will check and I'll put, I think it is 1800. I get to put up and notice. Because we have the EDT, we have that time. Yeah. It's a strange time difference at the time.

Yeah. It's a strange time difference at the time. Yeah. Okay. So that'll be on locals, the Doran, not locals.com. Yes. That live stream. So let's say a quick hello to everyone that is watching us on Odyssey, on Rockfin, Rumble, YouTube, and of course, locals.

How is everybody doing this afternoon? And a quick shout out to the moderator, Alexander. I see Peter is with us. And I think that's it. Peter's in the house. morning this midday for me so thank you peter for moderating and uhlexander we have a black sea uh ceasefire deal and we also have some uh some updates on the energy infrastructure that was also agreed on and i imagine the next phase to all of this if everything is uh

If everything is agreed on and no one breaks any of these ceasefires, the next phase is a complete ceasefire and the discussion of territory. That's how things are moving. According to the U.S. plan, that is how the U.S. is trying to move this along. But it does appear as if Russia is moving the U.S. towards Istanbul plus June 2024 root causes terms. So that's how it seems to me. Your thoughts, Alexander, on everything that was agreed on yesterday. And we'll take the discussion from there. Absolutely.

No, I think this is, I think what you've just described is the underlying reality of what is happening. But I don't think it fully clarifies, it explains what a very chaotic and disorganized day yesterday was. and I think there's a few things to say here, which I think need to be explained. Because first of all, we had that meeting in Riyadh. The Russians were there, the Americans were there, they spoke for 12 and a half hours. It was all done at expert levels. It was expert teams. We're not talking about, you know, big, heavy hitters from the political system,

not Lavrov, not Riyarb, not Ryabkov on the Russian side, not Rubio or Waltz. or Wickov from the American side. The Ukrainians, by contrast, did send a delegation that was made up of people that they would have considered heavy hitters. I mean, they sent their defense minister, they said military officials, they sent Zelensky's AIDS, and they came to Riyadh. And already, that should set alarm bells because they were sending a delegation that looked much stronger on the face of it. than this meeting justified. So 12 and a half hours meeting between the Russians and the Americans.

40 minutes on Sunday between the Americans and the Ukrainians, 30 minutes after the meeting with the Russians, the Americans and the Ukrainians. So the meetings with the Ukrainians were very short. The meetings with the Russians were very long. We were then told after the meeting between the Russians and the Americans that there would be a joint statement by the Americans and the Russians, which would be published.

And then that statement was not published. And then a Russian official, a very senior Russian official, who undoubtedly is well informed about what happened, a man called Chishov said that the reason the joint statement was not published was because the Ukrainians objected to it. So that was why there was no joint statement. Apparently a draft was agreed that the Ukrainians didn't actually tell us, they wouldn't let us that statement be published.

And then we got several hours of guidance from Moscow, from Peskov, Putin's aid, from Lavrov himself, saying that there would actually be no statement of any kind at all. Nothing in writing would be published that the discussions basically was still underway that the Russians negotiators would brief Putin himself. Lavrov gave an interview, which was very interesting interview for Channel 1, which seemed to suggest that the discussions were still underway with the Americans. And then towards the evening in Washington, everything went absolutely haywire.

And we got two readouts, two very brief readouts from the Americans, one of the discussions with the Russians, one of the discussions with the Ukrainians, both of which spoke about an intention. It was not exactly a statement that ceasefire had been agreed, where it said that the two sides, Russia and America, had agreed that there would be a ceasefire in the Black Sea.

But it was very vague, and it said that the Russians, that there had been also, agreements that commercial shipping would not be used to traffic weapons to Ukraine and that there would be an inspection regime set out and that the Americans would assist with the export of Russian foodstuffs. And then a few hours later, the Russians produced an exceptionally thorough and detailed readout. And that basically takes us back to the 2022 grain deal. So there will be no interference with commercial shipping in the Black Sea, provided there is a proper regime of inspections set up

to make sure that Ukrainian ships are not used or ships traveling to Ukraine are not used to traffic weapons. And then an enormous number of provisions of sanctions relief, basically freeing completely Russian exports of agricultural goods from all sanctions. And this goes well beyond the terms of the original 2022 grain agreement, because we also see that there will be lifting of restrictions on Russian ships involved in agricultural trade, obtaining insurance, for example. Things of that kind. I mean, it's very extensive sanctions relief at all.

So how did we get there? How did we get from a position where there was going to be no public announcement yesterday to the point where we get all of these public announcements pouring up from Washington and then especially from Moscow. I think it's very simple. The Americans discovered that Zelensky was about to give a press conference. They became concerned

that he was going to put his own spin on the discussions that took place in Riyadh. They rushed out these two readouts and the Russians who clearly had not expected that readouts would be published from the Americans, then went out and published their own.

Now, what I take from the, this is that this is the Russian readout is what the Americans and the Russians agreed with each other. Zelensky, who right across the day yesterday, seemed to be, seemed to me to be in the process of having a kind of meltdown, was extremely unhappy about it. He wasn't prepared to have it published in a joint statement. He then went and gave this extraordinary. press conference in which he was claiming that all sorts of things had been decided and were not decided, which doesn't seem to reflect the reality at all. So the Americans in order to preempt that rushed out their two redouts and the Russians rushed out their comprehensive redoubt

the following a short few hours later. So what we're getting here is a situation where there is an agreement to go back to the 2022 grain deal, but with intrusive inspections of Ukrainian ships plus far more extensive sanctions relief than was agreed in 2022. And Zelensky is furious about it. The Europeans are very non-plussed about it because most of the sanctions relief has to be undertaken by them. The ball in other. other words has been put in their court. And that, I think, is where we are. A huge win for Russia. Absolutely. The U.S. gives up nothing.

No. I mean, this doesn't really concern U.S. national interest to be quite honest. So they really don't give up anything. A huge win for Russia. Big sanctions relief. Yeah. And once again, Ukraine takes an L on all of this. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. That was the result.

That was the real result. Very, very, very difficult now for the Europeans. Do they do all of these things that the Americans and the Russians are saying they should agree to reconnect? And not just one Russian bank because it talks about financial institutions. The Russian readout talks about financial institutions involved in grain trading or food trading. And that includes fisheries and everything else, by the way, and not just fertilizer and grain, but every conceivable agricultural product.

Now, bear in mind that every single Russian bank will have businesses that deal with exports of food to some extent, all the big ones, spare bank, all of them. So you could even go and if you wanted to put a very wide interpretation on this Russian readout, you could almost say that all the Russian banks should be granted sanctions relief and reconnected to Swift. Obviously, that isn't going to happen.

But what do the Europeans do? Do they reinstate Russian insurance on Russian ships, on ships rather from Russia trading in foodstuffs? What if you mix, put some food on the ships and at the same time have oil in the hole? What happens then? I mean, you know, which is, again, possible. I mean, it's not the sort of thing that happens.

All of these things now, the Europeans are now confronted with, what do they do? Do they go along with this agreement? Do they try to sabotage it? Do they notice a deafening silence from European leaders and officials for the last couple of hours? And again, the reason we have this agreement presented in this kind of way before the Europeans themselves were briefed, or have. had the opportunity to comment on what the Americans and the Russians had discussed was because of Zelensky's incredible decision yesterday to give this press conference to try to preempt what the Russians and the Americans had agreed. His attempt to basically confuse and model everybody by implying that a much more extensive ceasefire, more on his terms, covering ports and other infrastructure, which by the way, the Russians then published a, further statement left yesterday, which makes it clear. Ports, railways, all that other infrastructure that Zelensky is talking about are not covered by any ceasefire. Anyway, if Zelensky

had remained month, if he'd said nothing yesterday, then as I say, presumably the Americans would have gone to the Europeans, the Europeans would have had time to adjust and decide what to do, as it is now. They're presented with an American-Russian. Theta complete. And it'll be very interesting to see how they react. Yeah, Zelensky was furious that he wasn't consulted by the U.S. on the sanctions relief. As if he makes any of the sanction decisions. Yes.

That was why he was so upset. But, you know, the readout also spells it out. It says Russia and the U.S. have agreed on both readouts on the U.S. and on the Russian readouts. It doesn't say Russia, the US and Ukraine. It doesn't say Russia, the US, the EU and Ukraine. It doesn't say any of that. Russia and the US agree. Russia and the US agree.

There's no Ukraine in the equation. No. No. There is an American readout about what the Americans and the Ukrainians have agreed. But basically, if you read the readout. In the 30 minutes of talks. It's 30 minutes of talks. It's just the Americans telling the.

Ukrainian. Look, this is what we've agreed with the Russians. You must agree to it also. So what Europe is going to do is, is they're going to do a little bit of everything that you said? Well, we're going to try and sabotage. They're going to try to agree to it. There's going to be all kinds of different views on what actions to take. There's going to be all kinds of kicking and screaming. I imagine eventually they're going to have to get in line. Eventually, I don't know how long that's going to take. Maybe it'll take a couple of weeks. Maybe it'll take a couple of months. months. I don't know. You know, they're going to put up resistance, but eventually you're going to have to go along with this. Well, I think that they will have to go along with this, and it probably takes several weeks for them to do so. But the Americans were wanted, done, because they want to move forward to discuss the wider ceasefire and the other issues that you spoke about. And the global South countries will also want to move forward with it because they want the grain deal in the Black Sea. And they also want the restrictions on Russian agricultural exports lifted.

So we're going to start to see countries in Africa, in India, the Middle East. They're going to start coming to Brussels and say to us, look, this is what the Americans and the Russians have agreed with each other. It really isn't reasonable for you to hold out in the way that you're trying to do. Yeah, it's going to look really bad if they start to sabotage all of this. the EU. The EU is going to look really bad. Yes, yes. The entire world, which would not be immersed.

No. Okay, so an interesting development. We are heading towards an Istanbul plus. Absolutely. That is exactly where we're going. Now, there were a lot of leaks yesterday, or a lot of claims yesterday, that the Russians over the course of the meeting in Riyadh again made it clear. that they want the entire four regions transferred to them. Now, I'm a bit distrustful of the original story,

which appeared in Moscow Times, which is a horrible rag based in Amsterdam. Sorry to use those words, which I don't consider to be reliable at all. But I'm convinced that is the Russian position. I don't see any reason to think otherwise, listening to what Lavrov was saying yesterday on Channel 1. I got no sense that the Russians are shifting on this.

I think the Americans are happy to move in that direction. I don't think they have any major fundamental concerns about it. So I think we are moving towards Istanbul plus step by step. That is the direction in which we are going. The US loses nothing with Istanbul Plus either. No. No vital U.S. national interests are jeopardized by agreeing to any of the Russian terms. Absolutely.

And just one very last point. Yesterday, we started to get the first briefings from US intelligence, which basically admitted that the Russians are winning the war in Ukraine. I mean, they prevaricated. One of them said that, you know, it was, you know, that the Ukrainian army has collapsed anywhere on the front lines, that by the end of the year, both sides will have problems. But overall, it conceded that the Russians are in a stronger position. That came from the Defense Intelligence Agency

and that the Russians have much more endurance in this war of attrition that the Ukrainians do. And then we had a much bigger, much more comprehensive intelligence estimate, assessment published by the US intelligence community as a whole, which went much further about this, so that in many respects, the Russian armed forces are more powerful than they were in 2022, which is unequivocal. and that even military and intelligence assistance from the West could not help Ukraine win.

So you could see that the US intelligence community, in what it is publicly saying, is starting to shift his position from optimism about Ukraine's prospects to realism about Ukraine's prospects. Yeah. We're delusional again, Alexander. We're delusional. The EU is an American. American puppet. So what we see is just a circus for the plebs. The plan is to make nations in the EU to borrow money from the U.S. to pay weapons made there. So this is, once again, we get to the point that this is some sort of a plan between the U.S. and the EU, everything that's unfolding. Well, it's the fact that the EU might buy weapons from the U.S., okay, they already buy weapons

from the US and they'll continue to buy weapons from the US. That I'm not in a disagreement with. But there is no EU-US plan in all of this. No, no. The exact opposite. It's the exact opposite. There is no evidence that there is such a plan. I mean, I think that this is a point which we need to make.

The EU leadership are deeply upset and alarmed about what is how. And by the way, the British media is now starting to publish hit pieces against Georgia Maloney because she seems to be siding with the Americans now. There's been the first one today and I gather that more are coming because she's not prepared to participate in the coalition of the willing, that she's not prepared to raise defense spending, that she's not prepared to do any of these things. They have no money. They have no money. Greece, I live in Europe. Greece has no money. They're broke. We're broke.

Nor does Italy? No one. Nor does Germany really? Exactly. Go on. I'm sorry. I've said what I've said what I wanted to say. I think that when people get angry, when they start saying the things about each other that they are saying, well, I can tell when it's nearly always tell when it's real and when it's not, this time it's real. And all of the indications are getting from people in London. And by the way,

for the first time, throughout this entire crisis, I'm starting to get people in London contact me. I mean, people who up to now have held off from doing so. All of the indications are that there is now growing alarm, growing worry, growing anger and growing doubt. So that's the reality of what's going on in Europe now. Okay, what's going on with Stammer's peacekeeper coalition of the Willing Plan? What's going on with that? What's disintegrating? There was supposed to be a meeting of chief of staff. Most of the European countries didn't turn up.

Italy didn't send a representative, ultimately boiled down to just the British and the French, and the British military are reporting back to Stama. This won't work. Again, there's article after article, or clearly sourced from within the military, saying as much to Stama. Because he doesn't want to hear this, but that's what they're telling him. And the big defence fund from Ursula, the 800 billion defence fund?

What's the deal with that? Again, again, there's been more articles now appearing in the British media of all places, saying that this is all smoke and mirrors. Maloney has said so as well, by the way, that Ursula, fund has no reality. It's just a sum of money that she's conjured up out of her head, but she's not actually providing any. It has to be provided by governments. And the governments don't have any money. The only government that thinks it has money is Mance's government. Mouts has now, you know, lifted the debt break. And he's, you know, putting together a, what is it,

150 billion euro fund for rearmament and a 500 billion euro fund for infrastructure. We've discussed this in program after program. None of this money is going to be used in the way the people think it is. What will happen is that the debt break is going to lead to a massive expansion of EU, of German debt, already with German bond yields rising. Bond yields of other EU states are rising as well. that is increasing their interest payments. There is actually less money going around.

And whatever money is spent in Germany, will stay in Germany and we'll go to all the friends of Friedrich Merz there, Mr. BlackRock. That's what he's up to. He's doing exactly the kind of things. You see in so many places happen, debt leverage and all of that, and that's what's coming to Germany.

The Europeans never learn Slush funds. All of these things are just slush funds that they're going to divide up amongst their buddies, their pals, their donors. That's all we're talking about is they're creating big, massive slush funds. The first article in the British media

discussing the fact that these are slush funds and using the expression which you coined to describe them has now appeared. That's all they are. They did the same thing during the COVID. They did the same exact thing. Exactly. Exactly.

In fact, that article actually made the direct parallel between this slash fund and the COVID slash fund. It said that the COVID slash fund was spent for everything except COVID. I mean, Sanchez in Spain, is already saying that some of this money should be used to combat climate change. What does that do? He's getting into fights with Kayakalus.

Absolutely. European officials are upset with Ursula, saying she's incompetent. Stommer's running around talking about an incursion into Ukraine and no one wants to join him. Macron is flip-flopping back and forth. One day he's saying, yeah, I'll join you. The next day he's saying, no, I'm not. The whole thing's a freaking mess. So we go, okay, so we go back to what the Russians and the U.S. have put out there

and the fact that the Europeans kicking and screaming are going to probably, probably agree with what the U.S. is telling them to do. Yes. I mean, it will take a while, but eventually that's the point to which we will come. All right. Anything else do you want to add? The very alarming a situation with journalists, the fact that... Yeah, I think this is... Yes.

...to really be going after journalists very hard. And I think this is an important story. I mean, even our friend Patrick Lancaster was targeted. I mean, he's actually done a video about this. So Ukraine is now engaging in what is clearly a campaign. to eliminate journalists, to eliminate witnesses. And this is almost certainly partly a byproduct of the disaster in Kursk, but it's also, I am sure, a sign that Ukraine,

that the Ukrainian leadership are expecting major military reversals over the next few weeks, and they don't want reporters out there describing them. It's incredibly cruel, it's incredibly cynical, incredibly cynical. It's in fact evil. And there is no comment about it anywhere in the media in the West. Yeah. Okay. Let's answer some questions and we'll wrap up this the stream. Is there anything else you want to add before? No, no, that's it. That's it. That's it. Absolutely. We covered. We covered. Okay. Nikos says, don't have much to ask, but one thing really puzzles me lately. How did you

Ukraine, a country so close to Russia, become like this worshipping Nazi ideology? How did Lviv make the population like this? This is a huge story that goes back long, long way. I mean, I think that the important thing to remember is that Ukraine is a place made up of three different regions. So there's eastern Ukraine, east of the Dnieper, which is overwhelmingly Russian-speaking, was part of Russia since the 17th century. Then there is central Ukraine, which is Ukrainian speaking, but orthodox, closely aligned with Russia,

formerly part of the Russian Empire, part of the Soviet Union from its inception, basically historically quite friendly to Russia. And then there's Western Ukraine, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And then Poland, which is either Catholic or Uniate. which speaks Ukrainian language and which has a long history of hostility to Russia. What happened after Ukraine became independence is that the Western regions of Ukraine basically came to dominate the political discourse in Ukraine itself. From Nikos, and to that, a follow-up to his question, and to that,

I want to point out, Golden Dawn in Greece, they rose to power at the same period as the Maidan and had the same agenda with azov wanting to confront turkey why did we throw them out and did the west fund them i don't i mean i don't know i think alex knows a lot more about that's yeah that's a that's a huge question as well they've grown out well they uh they got into into those issues with the with the murder of the of the rapper if if i remember that whole scenario yeah that situation um yeah and and from that point on golden dawn pretty much disintegrated after that yes entire your affair so so that was the situation with golden dawn that's a big topic as well yeah we'll do a we'll do a

program about greece soon or later i mean it's the situation that there's a lot of other things to talk about too there's a lot of stuff to talk about and greece at the end of the day alexander greece is just going to follow along well in with whatever whatever the u or the u.s whatever direction there. They're moving towards it will be interesting to see whether they're they move more towards the the Trump direction or if they move more towards the the Ursula direction. That will be interesting to follow. Nikos says someone pointed out yesterday that Americans get along well with Russians. There's a channel called ex-pat American that showcases this reality. He has formed a small community of Americans, British and Ukrainians and the Catholic who all live in Russian. Stanislav Krebivnik is his friend. by the way, you should definitely invite him on to your channel. Yeah.

Okay, that's certainly in thought. Yes. Thank you, Nikos. Thank you, Nikos. Sanjewa says, fourth Russian journalist killed today, female from Channel 1. It was a drone. Targeted killing. What is Russia doing about this?

Well, I mean, they're complaining vigorously about this. It's difficult for them to do much more. I mean, than they're doing already, I would have thought. I mean, the fact is that Ukraine is now intentionally targeting journalists, war reporters and that is a terrible thing sir mazgames says de gall said the rind is more narrow than the atlantic fast forward the napier is even more narrow than the atlantic yeah uh andrea says so russia sets terms for c spire and says that if ukraine breaches it they will take odessa if the us a sign the agreement are they accepting that ultimatum yes essentially that's exactly what they are

We're not there yet. I mean, there's a long way to go. But, I mean, that was what Putin said at the meeting with the industrialists. I think we should take all this very seriously. It's a long way to go and it's going to be very bumpy. Yeah. And Trump is going to say some stuff in a week or two, which is going to upset everyone and may turn everything upside down, but eventually it'll get back on course. We've seen this play out over the past.

We've seen absolutely. And can I just say it's somebody who's been involved in many negotiations. in my life, bumps and quarrels and arguments and moments when everything seems to break down, it's absolutely what happens in every big negotiation I've ever been involved in. People should not let themselves be thrown off balance by. Look at the overall direction of travel, and that's always the most important thing to stick to. And the key point is that Russia and the US want to normalize relations. Relations beyond Ukraine.

Exactly. Exactly. That is the key. There's even been an article about this in the New York Times now. And Lavrov even said it yesterday in his interview. I mean, he said it straight up. Yes. That Russia and the U.S. want to, want to normalize relations. Normal. Exactly. Raul Steiner says, Kayakalas will be screaming banshee after this. Yes. I think so. I think so.

Or she'll be floating, you'll be phoning Zelensky and they'll be screaming at each other. Just a second. The lover of the Russian team says, sick of this pointless loss of life. Sanjava says, this is one of two. I am not sure if Putin is reading the Russian public correctly. My wife is Russian and her friends can't be any more liberal than pro-Western, but almost to the person they want the definitive end to the war with Russian victory.

They are against giving up any land. They were anti-war before the war. They want victory now that the war has started and gone for three years. there is no fatigue. I wonder if Putin realizes this. I think he does realize it, and that is why that he's taking a very hard line. I think deep down, he absolutely wants to see Hadesa back under Russian control. And I think that that will remain his long-term objective. But back last year, he said the four regions.

And for the moment, he has to stick to that. That's exactly what he said. In June 2024, Putin's terms were the four regions. That's what he said. Yes. Keep in mind, Alexander, that it's also extremely difficult to capture a city like Odessa. That's going to be a huge undertaking. Absolutely.

Even Dilipro-Petrovsk, which is a huge urban city. Yeah, absolutely. And with Adessa, there's a further factor, which is, remember, it's a world heritage city. but you don't want it destroyed in the way the Bachmuk was. Just saying. Commando Crossbyer says, good day. MIR survive swift return. Well, the MIRCard survived the swift return.

Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, the Russians will make absolutely sure. I mean, they've been saying this. I mean, there's been a whole series of statements of Russian officials making it quite clear that there's not going to be any return to pre-2020, or indeed, pre-2014 Russian work. world.

Yeah. Mark Esposito, welcome to the draft community. Kuplex says, will NATO push harder in the Baltic Sea instead? Yes, I think some NATO countries will. But of course, again, if there is an overall normalization of relations between America and Russia, it can be very difficult to sustain this aggressive policy, even in the Black Sea, sorry, the Baltic Sea, because the the spirit will have gone out of it. You cannot maintain hysteria, war hysteria in Europe

if the relations between the two great powers are actually improving. That's going to be an impossible challenge for European governments to sustain. Du Sopcondis says, can you guys get Richard Sackwa on for a program? Where does he stand these days? No, he does.

I mean, he's excellent. We've done programs with him on the Duran. and Glenn Dyson and myself. And maybe we should do further ones, absolutely. But we should have him on one of our live streams too. Yes. Ralph Steiner says, could Britain blow up a Nordstream again and stop it? Yes.

Lov mentioned Nord Stream. Yeah, absolutely. You did, absolutely. Of course, if the Americans get a share in it, it might not be a very wise thing to do. It's an interesting idea. I wonder who came up with it, It makes sense. Orban came up with it.

That was his idea. He talked about that six months ago, about setting up a joint venture with Russia to get the oil or the gas into Hungary. Well, he's a very, very, very clever man, and this is a very, very clever idea. Ralph Steiner says, Germany and Russia together is a British nightmare. True. Absolutely true. Whenever the Germans and the Russians come together in Europe, they sweep the board. That's been an iron rule since the late 18th century. So the play in Europe is to keep them apart. Sir Mugge's game says, did Putin just invent diplomatic attrition to copy Paul Keating?

Putin wants to do Trump slowly or so slowly dim the lights, you can guess the rest. Well, I think to some extent, but I think also it's important to remember that what Putin is doing is that he is responding to what Trump is doing. Trump is the person with the initiative here. So what Putin says is every Trump initiative, yes, but, and then it's the but that is the key. Because ultimately, he has conceded nothing so far. most important thing to say. Tyler Durden says, a temporary Istanbul Plus is likely,

in my opinion, the U.S. is deploying stealth bombers to the Middle East. This means they will probably strike Yemen and maybe Iran. I can't focus on Ukraine. This is absolutely true, and it's a very, very worrying and concerning development as well. The situation in the Middle East

is spiraling out of control. And I don't think Trump understands how dangerous it is. J.D. Banz does. Tulsi Gabbard does. Kelsey Gabald does. She said to the Senate yesterday that Iran is not building nukes. Exactly. Exactly.

So that means that she's giving Trump, going off of her testimony, it means she's giving Trump reliable information. If you go off of what she said yesterday. Yes, yes. William says, I repeat as Trump wants to own it, stop fethling with interim deals, a huge fath to agree for Kiev to rest. cut to 12 bilateral final deal with the new constitution cut all aid Kiev will soon agree.

Well, can I just say we've, we don't, we can't go over this again and again and again. Alex and I have always taken the view that in Trump's own interests, he should have stayed out of the whole Ukraine settlement process. He took a different decision. He decided to become involved. I suspect he was led into this by Kellogg and Waltz. I don't think it works to his advantage. But in the end, I still think we're going to get the agreement that Trump wants. Sir Muggeem says, Gonzalo being smeared by super creepy U.S. Ukraine intel asset on Kim Iverson, is something coming down the pike about his murder?

I don't know. I've heard about this. I can't imagine that they can smear him any more than they have already done. The reality of his murder speaks for itself. And the reality of the kind of reporter he was, where you can still find his programs. Studio Reiner says, how is Greece broke when it formed the entire Western world? We owe them historical debt. True.

Thank you for reminding everyone. Justina Oskar, thank you for that super. sticker commander crossfire says considering the facts on the ground the four regions seems a minimal ask like being up nine to one a football match and in the second half and asking the other side to quit. Yes. Many, many people in Russia are saying this. They say, you know, is it, you know, we're on the brink of victory and we're going to just stick with the four regions? You know, we're going to get Zaporosia and that's it.

I mean, there are lots of people in Russia who are saying this. And it's going to be a very hard sell for Putin. But it's the position that he took in June of last year. And I think just like others here, I think he probably also calculates that if he gets the four regions, even if there is a truce, it still won't be the end of the Ukraine story. there'll be an awful lot of other things happen. And by that point, he will be in a position, Russia will be in a position of overwhelming advantage, especially and particularly if he gets the military aid from the West to Ukraine stopped, which I think is he's overriding priority, not just NATO membership now,

but de-scaling the Ukrainian military and all that. And elections. And elections. Yeah. Ralph Steiner says, cannot Britain attack a closer nation like France? Don't put those ideas

into Starves head, please. Jamila says the West lost everything because religion left. I would agree with that, but that's a big topic which is beyond what we can discuss here.

Studio Rainer says all the debt is owned in the Vatican. The Vatican is in debt to the Greeks. That's how millennia old debt works. Well, I'm not sure who it is in Greece who holds the debt because I've never met them.

And I know quite a lot of people in Greece. Sir Mug's game says Herr Stimer and the conga line of EU weirdos have been hoisted by their own petard. Europeans stopped breeding canning fodder over 50 years ago. Yeah. I mean,

what we have seen is a collapse in European statesmanship. I mean, they just don't do it anymore. They've relied on the Americans and it never occurred to them that the Americans have their own interests, which are separate from their own. Marianne Holtzman says,

Daddy Trump and Papa Putin are breaking bread. Oh my, and the Europeans are losing their minds, just like the Democrats here in the U.S. Yeah, exactly. Thank you for that. Awesome super chat. Oscar N. says, the kids, Ukraine won't back that Putin stole, did not those kids come from Dombas, and that is Russia.

Well, the host, I'm not going to get into this whole story here, but I mean, I used to do an awful lot of child abduction cases. These, this is, this does not fulfill the terms of child abduction. As far as I'm concerned, I mean, briefly, with children evacuated from a war zone, from Donbass, exactly as you say. I am not up to date with this story, but I understand that in every single case up to about six months ago, where the family had come back

and asked for the children to be returned, they were returned. So I don't understand what the issue is, legally speaking. Sir Muzgames says, Ukraine is giving Trump a migraine, just putting it out there. Yeah, it's true. Matthew says, is Putin selling out the military here by accepting this deal, which will likely be broken to appease the Russian oligarchs?

No, he's not. I think, again, this is a widespread narrative, but to repeat again, up to this point he has conceded nothing. Oh, he's conceded nothing that the military would take objection to. The military are not interfering with commercial shipping in the Black Sea. This is what makes this whole Black Sea deal so bizarre in some ways because it's predicated on the assumption that the Russians are operating some kind of blockade in the Black Sea. They are not. They never have done. There's never been a time when they've seized a single commercial ship on the Black Sea.

I can't remember one at least. it stops the military ships from entering the blacksie well when they used to back in the grain deal days yeah yeah exactly that's a different story exactly of course now I was going to say more importantly the sanctions yeah absolutely the military from a military point of view this makes no difference

the same goes for the 30 day ceasefire which now the Russians by the way have backdated to March 18 so we're now looking at it relatively short time. So that, again, doesn't change the military calculus at all. Of course, if the 30-day ceasefire is extended, then over time it will start to make a difference because then Ukraine may be able to undertake some repairs to its energy system.

They can't do that within a 30-day time scale. My own guess is what the Russians will probably do is they will complain about Ukrainian violations. of the truce which are taking place. They will then extend their own commitment for perhaps another 30 days. They'll keep it rolling as they did with the grain deal until eventually they decided it doesn't work any longer and they will resume their missile strikes or in the alternative we finally get movement towards a full ceasefire but that will clearly happen only in conjunction with a overall peace agreement being at least not finalized, at least starting to shape. And that will be

Istanbul plus. Ralph Steiner says, Alexander, when British Spitfires take to the skies over Germany on the 8th of May VE Day, and you hear the roar of Merlin engines, will you stand proudly? Well, not especially. I mean, I absolutely do consider, you know, the victory in Europe to an enormous event to which of course Britain played a very key contribution. The biggest contribution to the victory of the Allies in the Second World War over Germany was played by Russia, the Soviet Union, and they of course celebrate their victory day on the 9th of May. And therefore for that reason, that's the day I consider the important one. Boa Omega says

Maybe Tommy Robinson is meant to be an object lesson on the crime of unauthorized journalism and wrong-think political views in Europe. He has been hounded lawfare against him has been off the scale. I stress, I say that as somebody who is not an admirer any more than say

Nigel Farage is. But I mean, the way he's been treated has been appalling. But it is symptomatic of what is going on to lots of people in Britain now. You say something wrong. On X, you can have the police turning up at your door. Incredible. Al-Al-Al-Tanam says if there are elections in Ukraine, isn't there a risk that pro-NASI candidate wins, says illusionie, making things worse, not better for the Russians? the Americans and the Russians seem to be agreed that they do not want solution standing. This seems to be the general consensus.

But you're absolutely right. If there are elections, there's no predictability about the outcome. The Russians, I think, absolutely do want Medvedevich, eventually, to become leader of Ukraine. The Americans are focused on Timoshenko. I can't imagine that Timoshenko is going to be that different in the end. She'll be more intelligent and more consistent. which is not going to be able to change the underlying policy lines. I don't know how this is going to play out.

And the danger that you've set out is a real one. I don't think those people, by the way, have a huge amount of support in Ukraine. But what the general mood in Ukraine is, it's very difficult to judge it from that. Without U.S. money and support, the Banda rights are finished. I probably I think that's probably true actually yeah I mean I mean they only became the force that they did because they had that support in the first place and the reason they got that support was because they were the only people than ukraine who in the 90s and early 2000s were reliably anti-russian exactly AZ Barry one says will Russia finally stop selling energy to the EU to prevent that it for making more weapons.

Well, they've never said that. We'll see what comes. To be frank, if resumption of energy supplies from Europe, from Russia comes to Europe, well, it will be impossible to see that as anything other than a massive defeat for Schultz, Merkel, not Merck, sorry, Schultz, Ursula, Habek, Baerbach,

all that awful, bunch and Stama and all the others, Johnson as well. I mean, it would be, it would be for them, everything going back to a situation where Putin has won the game in every single one of its parts. Just saying. Bruma gem 101 says, have you guys heard of the new 1.5 billion ski resort being built in the Carpathians near Leviv, funded mainly by VIII? Vanguard, Black Rock and Goldman Sachs. Absolutely. I have heard about it.

And to say something, it's an obscene idea at the time of war. But it does tell you a bit about the kind of things that some people are planning in Ukraine. By the way, I should make it absolutely clear that I think it's another fraud, another scam, basically. I mean, you pour in the money, whether they'll anything be actually built is a completely different matter. Studio Rainer says, Remember, journalists equals intelligence, so I'd be surprised not to see this at the end of a major conflict.

Well, yes, I think there's some truth to this, but some of these journalists are real people who are real journalists. Patrick Lancaster is not work, does not work for any intelligence agency. Of that, I am, of that I know. And he is clearly being targeted too. Just watch his video.

You will see it all set out there. From New 2 says So guys, every bit counts for better Look after yourselves. Cheers from Australia. Thanks for that. Sir Mug's game says

The only thing in Russia's court is Ukraine And it has been found and judged guilty Putin's donned the black cap Just putting it out there again. That's one way of putting. The black cap, by the way, is what British judges used to put on their heads when they not only found someone guilty,

but were preparing to sentence them to death. That's where it comes from. Commander Crossfire says, Armenia said to revive relations with Russia due to geopolitical realities in depth to this, or just Armenian Erdogan? Well, I think that is Armenian-Edoin. I think Parishinian has no real liking for Russia.

The fact that he's taking this step is a sign of extraordinary defeat. And can I just say something? I mean, there was a meeting between Aliyev and Putin just a short time ago, which went really very well. And then a joint celebration meeting of Putin, Aliyev and two Central Asian leaders. I forget which ones. The Tajik leader was one of them. And then Aliyev is coming to Moscow for the 9th of May.

So, I mean, Paschengen has played this game for Armenia disastrously. It's been a catastrophe. And if he now starts to turn back to Moscow, he's sacrificed so much for nothing. He bet on Biden. He bet on the EU. And now he's turning back to Russia. To Russia.

What a disaster for Paschania. He really bet on the wrong side. David, David says the USA is trying to deceive Russia. Again, why do you guys keep giving a pass to the USA crimes. The USA is responsible for all the ongoing crimes in Ukraine and Middle East. Ukraine is doing exactly as the USA orders. No, well, first of all, we're not giving them. We've never given fast to US crimes in any conceivable way. We've discussed them and analyzed them and come under enormous pressure for doing so. And in no way do we take back anything of what we

said but there are objective reasons in terms of American national interests why the US would be adjusting its policies over Ukraine and the overriding one is that Russia is winning the war in Ukraine and the United States has many many other problems that it needs to take into account and that is why we have this process underway it's not because the Americans have become angels. Nobody in international affairs is an angel. Absolutely not. It is because the Americans are acting in their own self-interest. And for that reason, they have to try and get themselves out of this losing war in Ukraine. That's all. Go back to our videos from six months ago where we say that this is a proxy war between the United States, the collective West and Russia.

but in those videos, we make it very clear that in this proxy war between the collective West and Russia, whether people like it or not, the United States always has the ability to walk away from this and not suffer any major consequences. It's Europe that's going to have the problem. And that is what it looks like. The Trump administration is trying to do. They're trying to wind this thing down. And they're not going to suffer any huge consequences.

That's just the reality of how this thing is played out. Absolutely. For them, getting out of this now is a plus. For the U.S. it's a plus. Yeah, and they're going to normalize relations with Russia, and that's just the way this is going to work. And this is something that Russia wants. Yes.

Yes. You know, we're not here to tell them this is good or bad or whatever. this is what the Putin administration has seen is in Russia's best interests yeah Sebastian Lebek welcome to the drag community Jamila says I don't have faith on Trump because he said straight away he wants he wants to stop the ceasefire but he never stopped even the weapons well again we have a negotiation underway he hasn't given away anything up to now that affects American interests the Russians haven't either. He's now at least started a negotiation process and he's established contacts with the Russians

and that takes us a lot further than we saw under Biden, who was instead escalating the war all the time. It's something. It's movement. It is real movement. And one can't deny it. Yeah. Peter N. H says, if I may, if Russia wants to normalize relations with its neighbors, it needs to acknowledge, apologize for its past in Central Europe and Central Asia. The Germans apologized and Europe moved on. Yeah, the Russians have apologized many times. Again, this isn't a fact that people seem to understand, but there have been many, many apologies and many occasions.

They've apologized about Hungary and the 1956 events, which is one reason they get on well with Orban, by the way, who participated in those events. They've apologized about Katyn, and all of that to the dismay of some people in Russia. But it's not that they haven't apologized. It's that people continue to demand from them more and more and more all the time. They've apologized and when it comes to the Soviet Union,

they've taken on the debt and they paid all that debt. Absolutely. They did all these things. Yeah. Yes. Studio Rainer says, do you think part of the deal was to sack Erdogan for making things difficult with Syria, the Turks are a long-term train wreck for Israel and saving Assad, and saving Assad alive

might be for a reason. Now, I do I think it's as complicated as this. I mean, I think Erdogan may be in serious political trouble. I think he will get through this crisis in the end, which he has probably, you know, planned in advance. But I don't think the Russians or the American at this time want to see him go because he's a leader that they have come to understand and know they can work with up to a certain limited point. Whereas if he goes, there's just too much uncertainty. And I think neither the Americans nor the Russians want more uncertainty in the Middle East and what they already have.

Jack says, so if Hexeth is pushing the EU, to arm up Ukraine, how on earth is that de-escalation and zero weapons cut off? The Rand Trump opium is embarrassing. What EU weapon sent to Ukraine? I mean, this is this is exactly what we've discovered over the last couple of weeks. They hadn't been able, I mean, they can't supply Ukraine with air defense systems. The fighter jets they send to Ukraine don't work. The Ukraine is already complaining about the mirages.

They aren't able to send any more howitzers because they've run out of howitzers. There are no European weapons in any quantity that can be sent to Ukraine. All the key weapons were supplied, are being supplied by the United States. And when Zelensky asked Trump for patriots, what did Trump say? I'll ask the Europeans. Exactly. And the U.S. doesn't have. the weapons to send to Ukraine.

What weapons are being sent to Ukraine right now is, is from what I understand, and we talked about this in a video, Alexander, is the drawdown package from Biden. Yes, which Trump does not want to touch for his own negotiating leverage political reasons.

Understood. He doesn't want to touch it. He's letting the drawdown, the money, the weapons go, and they're going to run out in summer. Yeah. That package is going to be done in the summer.

So what does Trump do? Does he go to Congress and go to the American people and say, billion for Ukraine. Is that going to fly with the American people? No. No.

Exactly. That's one of the reasons that he also wants to wind this thing down. Everyone realizes that come summertime, which is what Budanov said, come summertime, there are going to be no weapons. There's going to be no money. Exactly. Sir Mug's game says, before Trump realizes it, his admin will be a lame duck a la Orange.

He needs to move. Torah, Torah, the Greek Torah, not the Hebrew nor Japanese Torah. Well, I mean, he's got enormous problems ahead of him. But discussing the whole future of the Trump administration is perhaps outside the scope of this live stream, if I can say that. I mean, something we do need to talk about. And, you know, we need to do more programs with Robert Barnes and others. What I will say, though, is that the Democrats are sinking like a stone. I mean, the popularity of the Democratic Party continues to fall.

And at the moment, they're apparently looking to Alexandria, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as their future hope for 2028, for which all I can say is my goodness. That's basically my own feeling about it. Junkled Jin says, wonder where the Scripples' bodies are buried. Good question. I would love to know. Sir Muzgames says Putin should offer to rename the Donbass, Donald Pass. Sir Muzgame says, Trump, the Oregon grinder is shaking down the EU and the Ukraine monkeys.

That's not how it's supposed to work. Exactly. That's true. That's exactly what's happening. Panos says, on a separate note, we all see each and both of you going strength to strength better and better. Do you ever reflect on that? Because make such a part of my day and others.

we just do what we do we enjoy doing it it's very hard work but we just do what we do I mean if we spent our time thinking about those things I think it would just distract us from our work thank you bonus for that Denise says have you noticed how much more the truth is showing through versus the lies we were told these last four years

absolutely gradually I mean we're starting to see more and more of the truth come through but only still a very small part of it. I think the fact that the US intelligence community are now shifting ground. And I do think this is, by the way, because Tulsi and Bradcliffe have come in, I think this has been gradually building up for some time.

The fact that that's coming through, expect sometime in mid-summer, a new assessment from the US intelligence community, taking us even further. down to the point of how big the changes are. How bad the situations? Alexander G says Alex and Alexander is spot on. This will be resolved on Russia's terms.

Russia will always be sustainable without the West. Correct. Sir Mascan says Putin also invented the complement of discord, lit a candle for Trump. So he schmuses Trump and at the same time gives Trump's critics ammo nice. Yeah, I mean, Putin does understand Trump very, very well. And he does obviously know how to deal with Trump in a way that promotes Russian interests.

I'm going to say this, Putin is not a manipulative man. I've seen him twice in action. I've been in rooms where he gave a public speech and went through a Q&A. He's actually very straightforward and very direct, as Wickewold discovered. He is not a manipulative man in the way that Starrma is to some extent. Macron definitely is, and will have put him with Zelensky off the scale. Dykes Brat says, You guys think there will be a punishment expedition from Russia, Donbass, against the Galatians,

things after such war can get messy. Revenge exists. Well, it absolutely does exist. But I would say something, it's not actually very much a Russian characteristic. I mean, they fought far too many wars to let themselves get too distracted by ideas of revenge. So I don't assume that that is going to happen.

I think the Russian feeling at the moment is if they can win the war, then Western Ukraine can go hang and take care of itself. I think that's mostly the sentiment in Russia at the moment. Raul Pinto says, is there any information on whether the EU war bonds issued to finance the Ukrainian conflict are being addressed during the Russia-U.S. negotiations? No, I'm sure they're not.

I'm sure the Russians aren't going to let the Europeans destroy themselves economically. Why wouldn't they? Commando Crossfire says, thoughts on U.S. tariffs against anyone trading with Venezuela, embargo incoming, another blockade. Why has regime changed, not worked there yet? Well, why indeed?

That's a whole separate question. All I get to say in this program is that if Venezuelan heavy oil is not trading on global markets, then given that the United States imports heavy oil because its refineries apparently tend to work with heavy oil. If you can't get it from Venezuela, apparently the only other place they can get it from is Russia. And that points to sanctions relief for Russian energy coming fairly soon.

Just saying. Sir Muggeem says the Russians have realized that dealing with the U.S. is, as you Greeks are fond of saying, don't bother knocking on the deaf man's door. Well, I think that the Russians have gone into these negotiations in a very tough-minded way. I think that they probably understand perfectly well that going down the line, four years, eight years, 12 years, a new administration might appear, which is again hostile to themselves. But they also understand that they have a president and an administration which does want to normal. and improve relations with them.

And they're going to take advantage of that in their own interests. It's as simple as this. Jules Signota, thank you for that super chat. Ralph Steiner says the Germans apologize for bombing Pearl Harbor. Well, no, they didn't because they didn't want Pearl Harbor. I mean, the Japanese did.

So I'm not quite sure what that refers to by the way. From the other side, an Australian in Minsk, Belarus. Absolutely epic show again. The topics are spot on keep up the amazing work. Hello from Minsk. Thank you very much. The Mitzk. Cool channel from the other side in Australian Minsk in Belarus. Ozi Ben-K says, regarding your comment yesterday, the collective West may not like orthodoxy, but a number of

us are converting. I know. And lots of people are, I mean, in the local church that there is here in where I live, which is an Anglo-Catholic one, it's part of the Anglo-Catholic one. It's part of the Anglican church, but fairly close to Catholicism in some ways. I know a lot of the people there are slowly drifting to orthodoxy as well. But I talked about the political elite. They don't like Christianity, and they particularly don't like orthodoxy. Roth Steiner says, was the bombing of Dresden a little over the top? The bombing of Dresden, in my opinion, was a crime.

That's my own perspective. I came at the very, very end of the war. It served no particular military purpose. It destroyed one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It's not, by the way, to defend Germany or Nazis or anybody like that. But I think the way it happened was terrible. There was a huge amount of outrage about it in Britain at the time, to the point where the leader of the British Air Force at that time,

Arthur Harris, had to call a meeting. to try to explain to the people that, you know, this was absolutely fine. And he got a philosopher who delivered a speech in which he explained about the ethics of bombing. And somebody, a churchman, stood up and said, we haven't heard a speech about the ethics of bombing. We've heard one about the bombing of ethics. So that's my own view about addressing. Sorry. Nigel says, Alexander, will Farage be better for the UK? Well, huge journey to go.

And I have to say this. He's not somebody that I've ever thought of as a potential prime minister. I don't think he's ever thought of himself as a potential prime minister. But he's now teaming up with Dominic Cummings. It looks as if he's gradually coming round to that view himself, that that may be where it comes. Given how badly Britain is being governed, given how terrible. the strategies are at the moment. Who's to say, maybe, maybe possibly a Farage government might be the way forward. I'm still trying to work out my own views about this. What I can say is that

the situation here is getting worse all the time. Ralph Steiner says, why the Yanks send smiley emojis as they bomb Yemen? Well, I think it's awful and terrible. but there it is. Americans are tend to do this with each other, by the way. Again, I've been many meetings with Americans. The chat that took place is, in my opinion, absolutely typical of how high-powered Americans behave when they are with each other. Mark Esposito says America has always acted in its perceived best interests. The problem was in the perception, not the motivation. Yes.

Boa Omega says a dollar for the cat treat fund for Alexander's cat. Sir Muggev says in Macron's first official portrait photo, he stood in front of the Gaul's desk and opened his memoir and placed it behind his right hand. No wonder the US views every French president as de Gaul. Well, indeed. Macron is not de Gaul. Just to say, two presidents more unlike. French presidents more unlikely, difficult to imagine.

Petros says what you mentioned yesterday about American politicians hostile orthodoxy, Orthodox Church in America is exploding with converts in spite of that. I absolutely, again, I said, I absolutely accept this, but the political class doesn't like this. You know, I've experienced this myself. The amount of times when I, you know, I mentioned that I'm an Orthodox Christian, The amount of times in Britain people bring up respruiting. They know very little about, by the way.

It's astonishing. William says, is Russia benefiting from the interim deals? Extra face time, more rapport. Russia and US look like good guys. And the UK, Kiev and EU look like scamps. And as they are winning, they can't be bullied. You're putting it exactly correctly. I mean, the very process of normalization is helping the Russians.

I mean, to give an example, I mean, Russian oil exports are booming now because despite all the restrictions that Biden put in place a few weeks ago, nobody's paying any attention to them because nobody believes that the Americans are going to enforce them. The EU leaders are idiots. Just get on a plane and go to Moscow. Exactly. Who are they going to send? Ursula, Kaya, who are they going to send?

What exactly? That's what they should be doing, getting on a plane and going to Moscow and doing as the Trump administration is doing. Absolutely. Some way to get past everything that's happened in Ukraine. And Lavrov and the Russians have said, if they want to come to Moscow, we're open to it. Absolutely. Can I just say everybody should go and watch on Alex's channel, the video when he discussed, the quarrel between Sanchez and Kyya Callas.

Because I think that tells the whole thing because I think deep down, Sanchez understands the point to Alex has just made. And he understands that this high representative, Kyakales, is incapable of conducting negotiations. Certainly not with the Russians. So that's why he's looking to find someone else to take the place.

And that's Sanchez. He hasn't been friendly to. No, to Russia. But he realizes it's over. It's over. Corey Hunter says, hello from Australia. The Australian media is putrid. You guys and other independent media are the antidote.

Thanks for sensible analysis. Thank you, Corey for that. Commander Crossfire says, Western Ukraine, Baltic states, ungrateful spoiled children homeless living on the street out of their minds because daddy didn't love them enough. I would have quite, I think that's a good description as any, frankly. Ralph Steiner says,

Pearl Harbor and Germans refer to Animal House movie. Ah, okay, yes, you're right, Ralph Stern. That was an animal house. It was an animal house. Long time since I've got to give it a re-watch. Sir Muggeb says, Pierce Morgan's Midlife Crisis, instead of buying a Porsche, he bought a Zelenskyy.

That's actually really, that's so fun. That's very good, actually. Elliot says, why don't Russia solve Zelensky a different way with a rocket ship? He said to be an astronaut. Putin explained it very well. He said, up to now, up to now, having Zelensky in place has worked to Russia's advantage. Why would we want to replace him with somebody better, clever and better organized and more rational who might actually win support for Ukraine and organize its stuff? fence broadly. Jungle Jins says I'm an Australian, but find it harder to understand what is happening here

than most places. The media here is abominable and we don't have outstanding talking heads such as yourself and Andre. It's not that different in Britain, by the way. We don't have much of an independent media here either, surprisingly, surprising as it sounds. Well, thank you for your, thank you for what you said about us. And I mean, for Australia, I'm very sorry to hear that because Australia always used to be, for me, a country which was, you know, assertive in its defense of its own, you know, people's rights to speak out. But there it is. Elliot says YouTube, Super Chat doesn't let me make that clearer.

Okay. Thank you, Elliot. Ralph says, all the Black Sea crap is a way for the U.S. Navy to get vessels into the Black Sea. No, I don't agree. I don't see how. I don't see what way this deal, this grain deal, actually facilitates that. At the moment, there's no sign that the Americans want to send their ships to the Black Sea. And certainly the Russians would not agree to that. Cute Cat says, great commentary. Thank you. Zareel says, don't forget, Sikorski also sent emojis after Nord Stream. I know. Joe Public says, Maga, when was America ever great? Well, that's a good question.

I think it was, I think, well, it certainly was powerful and certainly did stand for a great deal once upon a time. My father, who was a diehard leftist, I mean, a very, very committed leftist, and who opposed American policies throughout the 50s and 60s and was arrested at times and had all kinds of issues in Greece. He always had a great admiration for the United States, despite all of that. Because for him it did actually stand for something, despite the fact that he opposed it, or something, things that he had mind.

Sir Mosegames says Patriot Karil be warned 100% of Protestant conference joining Russian Orthodoxy, watched them like a hawk. The last time just Putin is just putting it out there. Well, I mean, but Kiril is, of course, I mean, the orthodoxy, that people are joining in Britain is not directly subordinated patriarchal, I should say. I mean, because he's the patriarch of Russia, just to say. The Onesia says the European political media class has, have whipped their populace into such a frenzy of Russophobia.

How would the people react to diplomatic contacts with Russia? I think that if the hysteria stopped, I'll accept it. I don't think the hysteria hysteria has embedded itself very deeply into the national, you know, the popular mind. Some people, you know, within the intelligentsia in the West, deeply Russophobic, and they will never change. From quantum Zen, so what you guys are suggesting as the most probable way forward is essentially the Vietnam War scenario, peace deal, the US walks away, war,

resumes probably with EU-supported Ukraine. War ends with Russia taking Odessa and Kharkiv. Am I getting it right? Well, I discussed this possibility in my program yesterday, and I think it is one possible outcome out of many, a not implausible one, but that takes us quite a lot of the way forward, and I don't quite know how it will end up.

Can I just say there is a strong possibility that we won't end the war in that way, that there will be elections in Ukraine, that there could be a swing towards a more pro-Russian candidate, that Ukraine breaks up, Western Ukraine goes its own way, central Ukraine then starts to reposition itself into a kind of bigger version of Belarus. I think that's an equally plausible outcome.

It's one that Lukashenko, by the way, has frozen. Sparky says Dresden was Martin Luther's area. The bombing destroyed the city, which inspired MLK seniors to change. He and his son's name from Michael King to Martin Luther King. He visited Dresden in the early 1930s. Absolutely. And it caused an enormous amount of devastation, cultural devastation as well. Artworks, the entire, you know, a whole library is destroyed.

I mean, a composer, for example, Italian composer that I particularly like Albinoni, 90% of his musical scores were stored in Dresden and they were completely destroyed. And because they weren't copied, they have now been irretrievably lost. I think we have one or one more, Alexander. From John Skee, wouldn't it be something if Trump attended Russia's May 9th victory celebration? Also, did you two meet the meet to create the Duran? Oh, how did you do? How did you do people to create the Duran together?

The Duran was created by Alex before we met. We met actually, well, we're not, not before we met, but before I joined the Duran. So the Duran proceed. Alex was there at its inception. I came later. But we did meet before we set up the Duran, about a year before, as I remember. We met in Gorky Park, and we discussed Greek politics and other things. We did not discuss the Duran then.

We developed a great liking for each other and for our respective opinions, which were very similar about Greek politics, even though we come from different political backgrounds, if I can put it like that. And then when the Duran was set up, I was suggested to me by Alex that I come and here it was. That's the story of our meeting. May 9th victory, celebration Trump? May 9th victory?

No, it's not going to happen. I mean, he's not going. He's already said so. And I think he's right. I mean, normalize relations first and the war in Ukraine. Get us to a good position. And then maybe in one, two, three years time, he can go. Yeah, we still have a long way to go.

Long way to get to. Yeah, yeah. Zick Nass says, can you guys bring Andrei Martianov and or Dimitri Ollof as guests back on again. They have fantastic insights. Keep up the good. Absolutely. We would love to do that. And we certainly will. From the other side, an Australian in Minsk, Belarus, says President Lukashenko had his presidential inauguration yesterday. So we have another five years of the legend. Yes. Alexander, that's everything. Final thoughts? And we'll wrap it up.

It's a wonderful program. But, I mean, can I just say we are moving towards Istanbul Plus. Step by step we will get there in the end. Zelensky is trying to create problems, as he did yesterday. But we see that when he does that, actually, it accelerates the process. Yes, it does. All right. That is the live stream.

Thank you to everyone that watched us on Odyssey, on Rockfin, Rumble, YouTube, and our locals community, the durand.com. Sparky says MLK Senior was a prominent Atlanta Baptist clergyman and went to a Protestant convention in Dresden in the early 1930s. His son MLK Jr. was the famous civil rights leader. Right. Interesting. Okay, gosh. Thank you for that, Sparky.

And I think that's everything. Thank you to our moderators. Peter, Zareel. We're moderating today. Harry as well. Thank you for moderating this chat. And we'll be back with videos. And Alexander, once again, plug the live stream on locals, your stream tonight on locals.

Absolutely. I had 1,400 hours, EDT. I believe it's 1,800 hours, London time. I will check and I will make sure that people know and I will put up a notification in a moment. And we'll be answering questions about all of the things that we've discussed today. And other things to do, no doubt. Right. The durand.orgas.com, the link is in the description box down below.

Take care, everybody.